Can a star be put in a McLux PR head?

I admit I know almost nothing about the McLux. Can a luxeon still on the star/C be put in a McLux PR head? Does the contact assembly come with a McLux PR head kit? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Thanks in advance. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

No unfortunately, the mclux pr is optimised to use only the emitter, hence you either have to purchase the bare emitter only or remove the emitter by desoldering from the star.
The emitter has to sit on the aluminium bulkhead because the pelican reflector is optimised for this specifically.
i dont understand what you mean by contact assembly?
do you mean the assembly that is in contact with the batteries? if this is what you mean than this part is called the ecan, yes it comes with the pr head.
are you direct driving the led or using a convertor board?
hopefully this will help, care of McGizmo's site
http://dmcleish.com/CPF/McLux-5/index.html
http://dmcleish.com/CPF/McLux-5/build/Index.html

roguesw, thanks.

I am direct driving. I am looking for a way to make a very reliable head for the E-series SureFire body that has plenty of mass so as to run an amber HD LS on 1x123. In tests, I get about 260ma DD on 1x123. If things get too hot, I will be wasting my time and light output too.

I was hoping to leave it on the star/C so as not to have to fool with the adhesives, and I know the emitter has to be electrically isolated from the head itself.

I see now about the ecan.

just a thought, an amber HD with the pelican reflector will have an awesome throw /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Looking forward to how you complete your project
glad to help
cheers mate
Des

The ecan is not a battery contact assembly. It merely holds a badboy or downboy board in the correct place to contact the battery. The original McLux head does come with a contact assembly suitible for DD use. I have a couple of extras if you want one.

tylerdurden, so these contact assemblies fit the PR head? Shows how little I know about the McLux series of lights.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
PM sent.

OK. So the McLux PR head has to have an emitter only. How does an amber emitter get "glued" onto the bulkhead and stay electrically isolated? I think I remember seeing a thread about removing emitters from star heatsinks, so that thread should tell me all about that.

BTW, what color PR heads do you guys have, "white" or black? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

both /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

the blacks are anodized and anodize is electrically insulating. Roth advocates the use of sharpie to insulate bare alu. You can use two layers of arctic alumina too, but that gets thick, so its a crappy thermal solution.

Are you sure you need to isolate the slug?
All I know is that white luxes don't need it in DD.

use arctic alumina to glue the emitter. unsolder the leads and bend the board, the emitter will pop off. remove the glue on the back of the emitter.
there is a special emitter board for the pr head that helps center the emitter and which you solder the leads to.

I made a dd pr by installing another type of emitter board in the ecan, bought at the shoppe as "connector and bare emitter board" and making a big glop of solder on it for the battery anode. then a lead from the "sandwich emitter board" to the "pr emitter board" pos and from the ecan to the "pr emitter board" neg.

nailpolish too might be a way to insulate the slug.

I don't think the contact assembly from the standard head will work with a PR head in a DD mode, at least not without some modification.

The standard EN head has a little ledge which the contact assembly rests against. there is space behind this ledge for a converter board or a resistor to live. In the PR head, there isn't a ledge because the assumtion is that the board will live inside the ecan, which has the same depth dimension as the complete contact assembly. Therefore, in the PR head, the "bulkhead" is at the same depth where the ledge is in the standard head. If you try to put the battery contact assembly in the standard head, it fits fine, but the negative part of the contact (which the lip of the battery tube will touch) is flush against the rear of the PR bulkhead wall, which means there is no room for the lead wire from the + battery contact to sqeeze through to the hole in the bulkhead. I think this could be corrected by cutting a small groove in the negative part of the assembly (the side facing away from the battery). It seems that getting the bare emitter board and improvising a contact with the ecan may be an easier method.

AilSnail,
Seems as though the anodized head would be better. Thanks for the info on removing the emitter from the heatsink.

tylerdurden,
I see. It would seem as though the ecan is the way to go, and I have an EN plated one.

I have been thinking today and am wondering - at the reduced current (reduced compared to factory specs of 350ma) of 260ma, I may not have enough photons to make a PR head worthwhile. I had originally planned on doing an E-series bezel mod. Any of you guys built one of those yet?

NewsFlash,

I have made a couple of "dumb" heads in red with the E(x)e bezels for use with the L1. These have no electronics. When placed on an E1e they were in Direct Drive and certainly respectably bright. I also have done a DB275 red for a PM6 using the PR reflector and I think there was ample light for a good useable beam. It of course depends on your needs and range. Any way you slice it, the red LED's are bright!

Hmmm. Since a McLux PR head uses the ecan and an E-series bezel mod uses an ecan, the logical thing to do is to first do an E-series bezel mod. I already have a spare bezel, ecan and esink. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

I have an idea to mechanically attach a cut-down star/c to the esink. The hard part to me on all of this is making a contact assembly with the ecan. Besides, if the contact assembly can be made without too much trouble, the results with the E-series reflector may be all I'd want. Then I could determine if an amber HD McLux PR head project would be worthwhile and to my likin'. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

At the moment, I am curiously watching the interest of the warm white luxeons. I hope to try one soon. I'm convinced that a modded KL1 with warm white luxeon may be the way to go. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Newsflash,
I've done a couple of the E2e mods. I have one pill with a BB500 and another with a BB700. I run these on an E1e body. It makes for a nice small utility light. It doesn't have nearly the throw of a light with an optic or bigger reflector, but it does have throw and side spill similar to that of a McFlood. The esink also does a pretty good job of handling the heat.

If I'm understanding you, you are going to trim a star/c down to attach on top of the esink. If you do this, I think that you will have spacing problems trying to get the head on the light, unless you remove material from the esink.

I also think that there will be a great potential for shorting problems. There isn't much room in a modded E?e head for the wiring.

Chop,
Doesn't everybody have shorting problems with an E?e head? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I thought everyone was using nail polish to insulate the connections at the LS itself, or are you talking about inside the ecan?

You are correct, I will have to turn down the esink to the proper thickness to allow the star/c to work.

BTW, have you put a warm white luxeon in a KL1 yet? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

Newsflash,
On the E?e that I did, the connections are close, but mine WILL NOT short out. I drilled mine out with a 13/32 drill bit and kept everything neat. I only used AA epoxy on the connections as a precautionary measure, not because it was needed. If you count on nail polish or AA epoxy to stop a short that would happen with out the nail polish or AA, then it is going to wear away and it WILL short sooner or later.

The AA or nail polish should only be used as a precautionary measure. They should not be used to correct a bad build as they WILL wear out and then, poof.

Why don't you just use an emitter instead of a star and make your life easier. Like I said, I have two of these pills and the esink does a pretty good job as it is.

I haven't tried any of the warm whites yet. I don't know if I will. I believe they are LD luxeons. I like the HD luxeons.

Only thing here that I do know the answer to that was asked, is that YES, the slug on the red/red-orange/amber LS does need to be isolated, unlike any of the others.

reds seem to work best with reflectors though, maybe because the die is more three dimensional?

Chop,
It's really just a case of using what I've got. My esink is recessed for a SE and I'd have to fill the recess anyway if I had just a HD emitter. Also, if I don't like the results I can always pop the emitter off the star/c heatsink and put it in a McLux PR head!

I guess clear RTV could be put on the connections as well for insulation.

Zelandeth,
Perhaps the same is true for the amber LS (about the reflectors).

Newsflash,
yea, I had to fill the ecan in too. I used HD emitters in both of my pills.

I've gotta yell ya' though, if you're looking for a very small pocket light, the E?e mod is hard to beat. Since you won't really need a whole lot of throw in a true pocket light the E?e modded head on an E1e body is great. I think the whole mod is a waste of time and money on an E2e body. There are just better ways of getting an LED on an E2e that cost about the same amount and result in a lot more throw with good sidespill.

If you really want something that impresses, go with the PR head off the bat. That WILL impress. It still impresses me everytime I put one together.

Chop,
I've got a FB 123 Vital Gear body coming. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif